Well, well, well, ladies, gentlemen and cryptids of all shapes and kinds, it returns at last! If anyone is still hanging on to this one, I owe you my thanks and a great apology! Between work and college, I was managing what I had to do pretty well. However, I lost inspiration to continue working on this. Nowadays, though, I'm feeling back in business! I am starting work on the next chapter and hope to have it up soon as well! For now, enjoy this one.

I remain your obedient servant,

Thrash Evaine Lovelocke

"I don't know what it was," the young lady said once more. She clutched the cross necklace in her hand and muttered something in a quiet tone. A few seconds passed and she quavered a bit before speaking again. "It didn't look like anything I've seen before. It was… kind of like a reptile, like a snake, but it had arms."

Nala sighed deeply and shook her head. This sounded completely unrealistic. "You said it had a weapon. What weapon did it have?"

The ferret girl shook and sniffed. "It was… a staff. I think it had a spike on it." She breathed another shaky sigh and looked down the street. "It went into that manhole," she said. "It slithered down there with a- a ball of lightning in one of its other hands."

"One of? Wait, you didn't say anything about that. How many arms did this monster have again?" Nala asked as she clicked her pen rapidly. As Nala put a soothing hand on her shoulder, the ferret held up her hand showing all four fingers. Although this girl seemed genuinely terrified, she was having a hard time believing this stuff. She looked at the manhole and scratched her head. "Are you okay, Ms. Ferrett?" But she did not say anything. Nala nodded and patted her leg softly. "Try and relax, Ms. Ferrett. We'll make sure everything is okay."

As she walked away, Nala could hear the ferret muttering something under her breath that sounded like a prayer. She looked at her watch to note the time: 10:04. Then, she approached Bridgette, who was still talking to the mongoose who was with the ferret. The large bear had lowered herself to the mongoose's eye level and was speaking in a firm tone. "So, you don't actually know what knocked out the power?"

He raised his hands. "I'm telling you, lady, I didn't even know it was off for a long time. My brother called me and I went into the bedroom. We don't leave many lights on, so I didn't think it got any darker. When he finally shut his gob, I came back out to the living room and pitch black. Once I finally got Tasha to start talking to me again, she said she saw a demon in the street holding a ball of lightning and that power line transformer over there," he pointed absently down the road, "was lying on the sidewalk with big dents all over it."

"So, whatever Ms. Ferrett says she saw, you didn't?" Bridgette reiterated.

Nala sighed. Bridgette was never a very patient person and this mongoose was long-winded as they came. He shook his head. "Not hide nor hair. Or, scale, as Tasha would claim. The whole thing is just too… Listen, she started taking a new medication recently. It's something to help with her seizures. It seems to be working, but maybe it has some… some sort of side effects."

With a disapproving look, Bridgette tapped her pen on her notepad. Nala took over the conversation. "You don't thing she actually saw anything?"

"Well, sure I believe she saw something. I just don't think it was what she thought it was. For all I know, she had a waking nightmare and didn't realize when she snapped back. She insisted it was real and made me come outside to see. She called one of the ZPD's night officers and got somewhat blown off. We didn't think anyone else would come to talk to us."

"I assure you, Mr…" Nala said, gesturing for him to chime in.

"Uh, Tavi. Kevin Tavi."

Nala nodded patiently. "The officer you spoke to, Tamara Barkins, left a message of note for the morning shift. The night shift doesn't always have the same resources. She wasn't shoving you off, she was just-"

"Hold on," Kevin interrupted, "Did you say Barkins?" He gave Bridgette and Nala strange looks. "Oh, is she married? It seems like an odd name for a tiger to have."

At that instant, Bridgette looked up from whatever she was writing. She slipped her pen into the clipboard's clamp. "Officer Barkins is a coyote. The message of note was left by her."

Kevin raised his eyebrows. "I… don't know who you are talking about. We were approached by a tigress who called herself Calypso Fangmeyer. She showed us a badge and everything. Said she would hear us out. After a minute, though, she told us it couldn't have been too much and said she would leave a word at the department but that was it."

Bridgette and Nala looked at each other uneasily and then back at Kevin. Nala took the initiative. "Did you say Calypso Fangmeyer?"

"Yeah. She said she had been with Precinct One for about nine years, now. Told us about how this was just an unfortunate circumstance and how we should be lucky we were inside when the power went down. Technically, I guess she was right," Kevin said with a chuckle. When Bridgette and Nala maintained faces of concern, Kevin's humor died. He suddenly felt quite uncomfortable. "I didn't mess something up, did I? I swear, she showed us a badge."

After a brief moment Nala shook herself back into the present and apologized. "Not at all, Mr. Tavi. You did the right thing. Do us a favor, will you? If either you or Ms. Ferrett sees anything else strange, call Precinct One. It may not be the strange monster she says she saw, but it is good she asked you to report the activity."

Kevin continued to look confused but slowly nodded to them. "Okay. We'll keep you in the loop, I guess."

"What a show, a display,

Anytime, anyday,

Racks and racks, what a sight,

Both can please me at night,"

The seductive yet relaxing voice of Andrew Elklore came out of Kevin's phone. He fumbled to get it out of his pocket. "Oh, it's my brother. I have to take this. Thank you both for your help," he said before turning away from them to answer the call. "Hey, Rikki-Tikki!"

While Kevin walked away, Nala turned with Bridgette back to their car. "What the Hell is going on here, Nobleheart?" the bear asked quietly, making sure she was out of earshot from the two subjects of their visit.

Caught up in her thoughts, Nala did not process a full response for several moments. When a delivery truck passed with a dull roar, she snapped up in shock and looked over to her temporary partner. "I don't get it. Barkins left that report on Bogo's desk. Or, at least, that's what he said."

"I was more concerned with Calypso Fangmeyer. There's no Calypso Fangmeyer in Precinct One."

Bridgette searched her mind. "Does Castor have a sister? Precinct Four, maybe?"

"Not that I know of," Nala shook her head and looked back at the report on her clipboard. "Kodia, do you think you could get a hold of Tamara Barkins?"

Walking back to the car, Bridgette opened her phone and sat in the seat. "She might be asleep, since she's a graveyarder. What do you want me to ask her?"

"Something I didn't think we would have to. If she didn't file this report to Bogo, then someone is impersonating a ZPD officer."

The imposing visage of Kaa Shyamalan in such close proximity made Nick feel nervous. The great serpent said nothing else as Judy processed what he had just said. After another long moment trying to come to grips, she opted on a cautious approach to the subject which she prayed Kaa was leading towards. "Their scent?"

"The snakes with arms," he hissed. Judy and Nick looked at each other with massive amounts of relief in their eyes. Kaa continued. "I am not very good with words. Even if I was, I doubt Chief Gatinheiro would have believed me. I have seen those things crawling in and out of the manholes."

"You've seen the naga?" Nick asked in a way that was almost more accusatory than confiding.

Kaa nodded. "Only briefly. They do not like to be watched. I can never snap an image of them. They disappear too quickly. However, I have heard them talk. One spoke Common. Most say things in a language I have never heard."

Her mind now starting to run with the potential questions she could ask, Judy shut the patrol car off and slowly stepped back out into the rain, extending the canopy of her umbrella. "How many have you seen?"

"Totally? I believe only three. The first I almost thought was only a trick in my eye. I didn't even think it was there. It was large and brawny, but I couldn't distinguish much else of it."

"Could you describe any of them in some detail?" Judy asked desperately, now sporting a notepad and her trusty carrot-shaped pen and voice recorder. She handed her umbrella to Nick who had gotten out of the car slower than she had and soaked himself in the artificial rain.

A long moment passed before Kaa nodded. "The second one I saw for the longest. The third had purple scales is all I can remember of that one. As for the second, it was large as well." He stopped speaking for a second. "Actually, this one was not a serpent."

Judy looked up at him in confusion. "Then how do you know it was a naga?"

"It spoke their language. It looked like a thing from Aecor Oceana, but it was also much different. Its body was like a lobster, long and shelled in. It had six legs, three on both sides of its body, but it had arms and an upright torso. It was some shade of silver and had an archaic-looking bow in its hands. I watched it from a tree as it talked, seemingly to itself, and then uncovered a manhole that it descended into headfirst with effortless movement, crawling like a spider."

Nick's stomach turned and threatened to upend in his mouth. Judy turned his face away from her and he rolled his eyes in bemusement. "You said it had a bow? Did it seem to be using it?"

"Not at the given moment," Kaa said. He reached the tip of his tail into his vest pocket and wrapped it around something. He produced before them a small device akin to a tablet. Wrapping it in the ends of his coils, he used the tip of his tail to scroll through the screen and stopped on a picture that he had taken about two weeks ago. "I was unable to get my camera to work in time to capture the strange lobster-naga. However, I was able to identify who it was speaking to."

Instantly, Judy's ears perked and she scrambled to Kaa's side. Nick followed her, being forced to wrestle briefly with the umbrella which threatened to turn inside out. "Is it someone from the RD?"

Kaa shook his head and lowered his tablet so they could see it. He wiped the water from the screen and revealed to them the face of an abnormally tall kangaroo rat. "Officers, this is Adam Springot, a native of The Cave Quarter. He runs a gentle life. He is employed with an antique store run by a meerkat woman named Kirdey Masons."

Cave Quarter, Springot, Kirdey Masons. Oh, the relief of having a lead. A door was opened, a dawn to this frustrating lack of information. "Do you know his address?"

"I do not. You would need access to Precinct Ten's information. As you know, the populace of The Cave Quarter is largely nocturnal, so the greater part of their police force takes the proverbial graveyard shift. I only know one officer from there. His name is Flitz. He is a bat of some kind and he is one of their sergeants. You could probably speak to him if you are in The Quarter around 9:00."

Note after note, Judy wrote with such speed that Nick's eyes felt strained to follow them. The fluent motions of her hand came to an abrupt end with the word 'shape'. Of course, Nick already knew why that was the word she chose. The image of that twisted mass of muscle, transforming itself out of his body and into the serpentine thing in the abandoned building came back again. Once more, he felt like he wanted to throw up. "Thank you so, so, so much!" Judy sighed exasperatedly. "I'm so glad someone else knows these things exist. When did you say you first saw one?"

"Perhaps a month ago? It disappeared into a manhole so quickly, I couldn't much process it," he looked to a nearby storm drain and flicked the water from his hat. "I went into the sewers about a week after I saw the first. I expected to find something. There was no sign of them. It was like they knew I had my camera prepared; like they knew I was trying to observe," Kaa stopped talking and adopted a pensive look.

The comment reminded Judy of how the one had disguised itself as Nick and stayed right under her nose long enough to trick her into surrendering their evidence. She took a deep breath before looking back up at Kaa. "Thank you, Officer Shyamalan. I think Officer Wilde and I have a lot more to do today, but this has all been very helpful."

Suddenly coming back to the conversation, Kaa looked down the street and sighed. As Judy and Nick were turning to leave, he spoke again. "Officer Hopps!"

Judy turned back to the serpent who barely seemed to have moved at all but had closed the distance he had initially created. "Yeah?"

A long sigh from Kaa was followed by him quickly producing a cell phone. "I have a very bad feeling that we may continue to be alone in this little investigation for some time. My cell number. It helps to have allies."

There was no real harm in this, just a slight abnormality. It was nobody's business why they exchanged numbers. Perhaps they had just hit it off and become friends. But Kaa Shyamalan did not seem very outgoing. It would be a long shot to sell that, especially for him to the other officers in Precinct 4. Concerns and concerns always on Judy's mind. She was no total stranger to rule-breaking but it never seemed like a good idea to her.

Nick was on edge about this as well. He, however, was more worried about how Kaa's input on the mysterious naga was going to affect his near future. Whatever Judy had seen was clearly a much bigger deal than just one rogue illusionist. He had only seen one of these things but to know there were so many more and in all various shapes was terrifying.

Kaa recorded Judy's number in his phone after she had done the same for his and the smaller mammals watched in amazement as the great figure moved quietly up and into the canopy. Just as elegantly as he had come out of it not long ago, he disappeared and was swallowed by the Rainforest District. It was impossible to tell which direction he traveled in afterwards as the thick branches and clusters of vines offered no rustles of any kind while he went off.

It was at this point that Nick and Judy were finally left by themselves. The two of them took back to the car with Nick getting his side of it wet as he sloppily tried to close the umbrella. He shook his head and made Judy groan in frustration. Of course, he had no problem laughing it off. The two of them sighed and leaned back for a long while. The hard pattering of the rain against the vehicle was a comforting deafener to the outside world for a brief second in the midst of this storm they had found themselves in. Judy looked at her watch. It was 11:32 AM and it did not seem like the showers would slow down. With a hefty breath, she turned to her partner in crime fighting and nodded. "Lunch break?"

Without even a second to think about it, Nick grabbed the radio from the console. "I'll hail Clawhauser and tell him one hour."